A Mother's Love
by Tortured Hylian Soul
Summary: It is too late for him. It is too late for her. Their mother taunts them with the ocean's song and reminds them of what they once were and what they will never be again. [Oneshot. Dark DemyxXAriel]


They rest upon the beach beneath a starless sky. She kneels at his side, bright crimson tresses brushing against his stifling, imprisoning leather trench coat as she wordlessly embraces him. Looking down at her, he sees what sun and air has done to her. Her skin is pink; her lips dry and cracked, her body bruised and bloody from constant collapse. He has… He has a… a _feeling_… bubbling up inside of him. He cannot call it misery. Misery is for those with hearts. He cannot call it anger. Anger is for those that love. This _feeling _is the effect of maddening thoughts. She is no longer welcome in the embrace of her mother, the ocean. She is experiencing this because he was not there to keep her in her place. Looking within the pained reflection cast upon her eyes, he sees a missing child. Within her tortured soul, he sees himself nine years ago.

He stares out upon an ocean of black water, and it very much reminds him of what he has become. He has no heart. He has no soul. He is cursed to forever walk upon land and drown upon sea. He is the Melodious Nocturne, the song of the night. Mother Ocean has rejected both of her devoted children. She gives them only a black ocean and the disturbing song of the beach to mock memories of their home. The cackle of the Sea Witch haunts them both upon the waves.

The miserable growl of the girl's starved abdomen sounds its call, and he reaches into his pocket for a mass of violet grapes. Axel won't miss them. With a broken smile, she thanks him, incapable of vocally expressing it. The land-dwellers residing here offered her no aid upon her three days as a rejection. The feeling burns within him once again.

He chuckles softly as he advises not to eat the shriveled vines binding the fruit, and bathes within the protective sense directed towards her. It feels nice to depended upon. She finishes her first mortal meal within a number of minutes and lifelessly reaches for a worn azure sitar, presenting it before him with pleading eyes. With a faint smile, he gently takes it from her skeletal fingers, and begins a slow song that only spirits past know the name of. She stares out upon the surface of her home as her faded eyes glaze over, lost within the essence of the tune as she dreams of once again possesing her fins, her voice, her _soul._ The Nocturne forces an eye open, momentarily breaking his concentration and shattering an otherwise perfect note.

Her only reaction is lowering her head, and her companion detects the tears that hit the sand, though he is unable to actually see them. "_Dance, water, dance_…" He inelegantly tosses the tears into the passing tide before wrapping an arm around her waist. She tenses momentarily, and he understands, but fails to let go. He is not the man that she had originally planned to embrace her in such a manner. He is not the man that she had dreamed of as he takes in her scent with an elongated breath. And she certainly never dreamed of this man beside her kissing away the tears dripping upon her lashes and reminiscing of his beloved ocean dwelling with each taste of salt.

She dwells upon those fights with her father, so close to her yet so far away. She believed that she was no longer a child then, and now that she reflects upon those hurtful, agonizing words, she realizes that she was no more than a stupid, naïve guppy. The surface world has many wonderful things, but the things are too few. Her beloved Y'med is all that she has left, and she is realizing that even he is fading.

Like seawater cupped within her spoiled human hands, the Y'med she once knew is escaping her. She cannot hold onto him forever; he is slipping between her imperfect fingers back into the unknown. She knows that this Y'med does not love her, and that he is only near her so he can feel whole once more, and she does not blame him for this. That Witch took his cherished heart from him, and he cannot love her like the old Y'med once had. But she still loves him; he is her water and she is his; their comfort and their beloved element. She could never stop loving that.

The cry of a seagull alerts them both, and they raise their heads with smothering thoughts. Their mother taunts them with false hope and mocking embraces as she icily reminds them of what they once were and will never be again. "_What is she telling us?_" he whispers with a longing that they both know does not truly exist. "What did we do wrong? _Why are you punishing us?_" She bites her lower lip and curses herself for being so self-centered; she could attempt to comfort his non-existing suffering is she had held onto her home for just a _little bit_ longer.

She gasps as he bounds up and races into the waves to reach out for the retreating gull. She tries to copy him, but only succeeds in tripping into the water, coughing as it invades her lungs, burning like a parasite. "_What are you saying?_" She peers up at his broken features and begins to recognize the Y'med she once knew. It's too late for him. It's too late for her. She covers her eyes as the tide pulls away and the sun staggers above the horizon.


End file.
